Ningxia homestays draw increasing crowds

In addition to enjoying delicious local cuisine, tourists can visit farms, stargaze, walk along the Great Wall, follow in-depth travel routes developed by hotels and experience the fun of wild luxury travel.

The rapid development of homestay tours has led to the rising popularity of local produce, including jujubes, dried sweet potatoes and red wine, said authorities.

Chen Zupin, a major homestay investor, said occupancy rates at his homestay by the Yellow River were 69 percent last year despite the impact of COVID-19, with the highest rates of occupancy between June and September.

Chen has opened five homestays, a restaurant, a bookstore and an art gallery and has organized a number of trips to deserts and ancient villages that have made him between 40 million ($6 million) to 60 million yuan a year in the previous two years.

"Most tourists come from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing, the Yangtze River delta and the Pearl River delta regions and Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces," Chen said.

"One tourist from Taiwan said he enjoyed the homestay tour very much and that the tour had helped him rediscover the western region of the country."

Chen said the tourist wrote him a letter to express his gratitude after he returned to Taiwan.

Cai Ju, deputy head of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Ningxia Hui autonomous region committee and Party chief of the region's department of culture and tourism, said they would continue to promote and develop homestays and rural tours to help further rural vitalization in the months to come.

Ningxia has a wealth of rural tourism, with over 70 percent of the region's scenic spots, folk customs and cultural heritage concentrated in the countryside.

Fresh air, a beautiful environment, and a pristine country lifestyle have laid a good foundation for the development of homestays and tourism, she said.

In addition to the clusters by the Yellow River, Zhongwei has completed construction of desert homestay clusters, while Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia, has signed a contract for the Helan Mountain homestay clusters with the goal of creating a world-class wine tourism destination at the eastern foot of the mountains to promote Ningxia's homestay and tourism industries, said Cai.

Contact the writers at zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn